Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
> use non-text based communications makes for a more attractive
forum of communication

Yes, definitely -- so much expressiveness in metaverse platforms is
visual/immersive, especially through avatars. I explore a Stanford
study which suggests how people's avatars eerily replicate our
unwritten rules of eye contact and personal space.

Though text does remain important in the Metaverse, if secondary!
It's why Discord is such an important hub for people across
metaverse platforms.
  

    
Can you say more about that? If I'm using one of the Metaverse 
platforms, how does the Discord app supplement my activity? Is there
a sense that the two work together well enough to appear seamless? 
  

    
Generally, virtual communities create Discord servers so they can
stay in touch with each other and keep communicating when they're
not in-world and away from their computer/VR rig. (By definition the
Metaverse is real time and immersive, so that creates a need to have
an asynchronous, mainly text-based communication medium.) 

Also many grassroots creators create their own Discord server to
help keep their community of fans active. 
  

    
So much social activity on the Internet is NOT happening on Facebook
or Twitter or similar platforms. Clusters of smaller communities
using platforms like Discord seem to be trending. Am I correct that
platforms like Second Life and Roblox and Fortnite host many varied
communities, like neighborhoods in a city? How much can we know
about what goes on in those communities? Are new cultures emerging
that we don't readily see?
  

    
> many varied communities, like neighborhoods in a city

Yes, exactly. To paint the big picture, much of Gen Z is focusing
their online activity not on TikTok or Instagram but in Roblox,
Fortnite, etc., and they all have variations of Internet subcultures
within them. (Second Life is the outlier here as it's mostly Gen X
and Boomers at this point.) 

To take one example I mention in the book, there's a very large
community of VRChat players who enjoy sleeping together, literally
-- that is, they get together in VRChat as avatars in a calming
space with rainfall or other ambient noise, and just drift off in
real life while VRChat is still running. 

As for "how much we can know", that's partly why I wrote the book --
I'd love to hopefully inspire other writers (especially with major
news outlets) to start exploring these platforms and write about
their communities with empathy and fascination. 

So much of our future culture is already taking shape in this
emerging Metaverse. To me that's the real story -- not whatever it
is Zuckerberg or whoever announces with no consideration of what
already exists and is thriving.
  

    
I respect this career you have built that is centered on empathy and
respect. It comes across as a calling. Does it feel that way to you,
too?
  

    
Thank you! It definitely feels that way. One of the very first
people I met as a reporter in Second Life was homeless in real life,
squatting in an abandoned apartment building, the virtual world her
retreat from her truly desperate surroundings. 

And my new book begins and ends with the story of someone I totally
stumbled on by accident, while promoting my first book: Mr. Charles
Bristol, a Black blues guitarist who started performing live in the
Metaverse... at the age of 86.

Meeting people like that, I want to honor their story -- and hope it
inspires readers to see what the Metaverse at its best can make
possible.
  

    
From what you know today, what do you thing the metaverse will be to
Meta, the corporation that promised to build it out in some
meaningful way. Have they changed or abandoned their plans? Or if
not, what's their roadmap?
  

    
And vice versa; how will Meta likely fit into the larger metaverse?
  

    
Weirdly, even after Meta's big metaverse-related announcements
yesterday, nothing has changed much from what I painstakingly
documented in the book (which I submitted early this year): The
company has a very incoherent view of the concept, it's being led in
contrary directions by people with no virtual world/game experience,
and Zuckerberg can't even explain what he means by it to his own
employees. (According to an internal survey.)

> how will Meta likely fit into the larger metaverse

Pretty much how it is now -- as a peripheral provider. Metaverse
platforms Roblox, VRChat, and Rec Room are very popular with Quest
owners, at least! 
  

    
Just saw this:

Lex Fridman interviews Mark Zuckerberg in the Metaverse:

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYrJJNdrEg>

New codec for high-quality, photo-realistic avatars.
  

    
Yeah tweeted about it earlier today because I devote quite a lot of
the book to the topic. It is so wrong an approach on so many levels:

https://twitter.com/slhamlet/status/1707474485207826542

Photorealistic avatars are incredibly problematic in a metaverse
context, even beyond the inevitable Uncanny Valley problem - they
encourage toxic behavior and are contrary to the essential
expressive power of virtual worlds.
  

    
I know nothing about the technical details, but that sounds a lot
like the classic dilemma of a new tool that can be used for both
good and ill.
  

    
Somewhere within the first 25 minutes of that interview, the use
of this technology in a business meeting context is mentioned. This
has me wondering to what extent we want to consider *all* uses of this
sort of technology to be part of the/a "Metaverse?"

As always, there's a subliminal sort of language evolution going on
in the background. As I think you suggest in your book, a big part of
that evolutionary struggle has being driven by the various uses of term
for marketing purposes.

As I'm typing this post, in a room with two physical workspaces,
the person at the other desk is having a software design meeting by
means of one of the popular video conferencing systems currently
available.

I guess my question is: In the long run, are you expecting "Metaverse"
to survive as an umbrella term that includes everyday 'video'
collaboration?
  

    
Oh, and I wanted to point out that the approach this research project
seems to be taking should easily allow for non-photorealistic avatars
as well.
  

    
> In the long run, are you expecting "Metaverse" to survive as an
umbrella term that includes everyday 'video' collaboration?

No, and hopefully my book clarifies what exactly is meant by the
term, and when it should be used. It gets very kludgy and confusing
when it's used outside the very specific conception depicted in
"Snow Crash". Meta is confusing things even more by defining it as
basically, "Whatever our Reality Labs is spending billions of
dollars on."

I also mention that one likely scenario is "the Metaverse"
eventually goes the way of "Information superhighway" -- an
aspirational term that becomes unneeded after its actual
implementation goes mass market.
  

    
Cf. "the Internet" vs. "the Web"
  

    
How will the metaverse have evolved, five years from now? Do you
think that the metaverse will mainstream as the Internet has
mainstreamed? 
  

    
We'll probably see currently popular online worlds like Grand Theft
Auto and Elder Scrolls Online take on more metaverse qualities, i.e.
robust content creation/avatar customization tools, in-world economy
with cash-out option. etc. Traditional games are incredibly
expensive for companies to maintain and update, and it just makes
sense to give user communities more power to do that themselves.

Metaverse *platforms* are already mainstream -- Roblox alone has
upwards of 300 MILLION active users -- the question is whether we'll
see the user base grow with them, and become more and more relevant
to people who don't use those platforms. Hopefully my book helps
there!
  

    
Thanks to the hosts and everyone's great questions! If you found it
interesting, I hope you consider buying a copy. Here's links:

AUDIOBOOK:
https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/making-a-metaverse-that-matters/692771

AMAZON:
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Metaverse-That-Matters-Fighting/dp/1394155816

BARNES & NOBLE:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/making-a-metaverse-that-matters-wagner-james-
au/1142805430?ean=9781394155811

BOOKSHOP (benefits indie stores):
https://bookshop.org/p/books/why-the-metaverse-matters-from-second-life-to-met
a-beyond-the-promises-perils-of-the-next-generation-of-the-internet-wagner-jam
es-au/19062667?ean=9781394155811
  

    
Thanks, wjamesau! I’ve been lurking rather than posting, but have
loved the discussion and put the book on my list!
  

    
Thank you!!
  

    
Another round of applause for <wjamesau>! And for his thoughtful,
helpful overview of the Metaverse.